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Where do thrushes migrating to France come from? Within-France distribution and temporal changes over 70 years

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Abstract

Knowledge of the origin and spatial distribution of migratory bird contingents is essential information for the study and conservation of their populations. In short-distance migratory birds, their propensity to migrate has reduced over the past decades: more individuals remain year-round on the breeding grounds, and those that migrate winter at closer distance. To inform the management of these migratory populations and species subject to intensive hunting during the non-breeding season, we must document and understand how their migratory behaviours have changed over the past decades. Using ringing-recovery data spanning over the past 70 years (1950–2018), we updated knowledge on origins and within-France spatial distribution of five hunted European turdids migrating to/through France (common blackbird, fieldfare, song thrush, redwing and mistle thrush), and documented how these aspects have changed over time. Our results confirm that France hosts non-breeding birds from all Continental Europe. Partial and short-distance migratory populations from blackbird mainly come from western and central Europe and are strongly segregated in autumn and winter in France according to their origin. Surprisingly, our results relativize the presence of populations originating from Fennoscandia for the northernmost species (redwing and fieldfare), which present a slightly marked segregation. Finally, this study highlighted temporal changes in the migratory propensity for song thrush and mistle thrush, and modifications of the within-France spatial distribution for fieldfare, song thrush, and redwing. Through this new knowledge, we hope to provide a replicable method to characterize migratory populations’ distribution and bring elements to promote the differentiated management of hunted thrushes in Europe

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Acknowledgements

We thank the thousands of bird ringers, citizens, and hunters that voluntarily collected the data, as well as the national ringing schemes that have provided access to grand totals of ringed birds for their country (Table S1, see https://euring.org/national-schemes).

Funding

This study was supported by the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Office Français de la Biodiversité, and Ministère de l’Environnement. We thank Jocelyn Champagnon (Tour du Valat) for providing access to unpublished ringing data from Camargue.

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  1. Cyril Eraud and Pierre-Yves Henry contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Évolution (MECADEV), UMR 7179 MNHN-CNRS, Brunoy, France

    Maxime Lahournat & Pierre-Yves Henry

  2. Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d’Oiseaux (CRBPO), Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Paris, France

    Frédéric Jiguet & Pierre-Yves Henry

  3. Direction de la Recherche et de l’Appui Scientifique, Office Français de La Biodiversité, Villiers-en-Bois, France

    Maxime Lahournat, Alexandre Villers & Cyril Eraud

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  1. Maxime Lahournat
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Lahournat, M., Jiguet, F., Villers, A. et al. Where do thrushes migrating to France come from? Within-France distribution and temporal changes over 70 years. Eur J Wildl Res 67, 95 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01525-y

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